Auburn High's Rashaan Evans talks with the media after choosing to commit to Alabama, Wednesday, February 5, 2014, in Auburn, Ala.
Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com

Outlook: Alabama had six players who are rated 5 stars by at least one recruiting service and they represent cornerstones in all the important areas. Cameron Robinson, the nation's top offensive lineman, is a future offensive line anchor while Da'Shawn Hand is a future defensive line stalwart. Tony Brown and Marlon Humphrey appear to be lock-down cornerbacks and Rashaan Evans is a playmaker at linebacker.

Outlook:
How does a class ranked No. 2 nationally not get an A-plus? The top class was
there for the taking for LSU in an unusually talent-rich year on the
Bayou, but the Tigers could not secure elite in-state prospects
Robinson, Jones, wide receiver Speedy Noil (Texas A&M) and defensive lineman Gerald Willis (Florida). Otherwise, this would have been the top class by a long shot.

Malachi Dupre decided to stay near home to play for LSUBrett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Outlook: Surely, the Aggies won't likely find another trigger man quite like Johnny Manziel, but A&M should be able to play pitch and catch with 5-star quarterback Kyle Allen and 5-star wide receiver Speedy Noil. But that's just the pretty part of the Aggies' class.

The real news is Texas A&M got help to become tougher. There's plenty of help for its beleaguered defense with a group led by Garrett, the stud defensive end who will provide the disruptive ability the Aggies lacked last year after the departure of Damontre Moore to the NFL. He's one of nine defensive players with 4 or more stars that should be able to provide a talent upgrade on that side of the ball.

Racean Thomas of Oxford, Ala., is Auburn's top recruit. (Photo courtesy of 247Sports)

Outlook: Even after losing Evans on signing day, Auburn still had reason to feel good as it closed the class with a couple of 4-star studs in offensive lineman Braden Smith and defensive end Andrew Williams. Still, losing a hometown star to hated rival Alabama didn't make signing day all it could have been.

Even so, Gus Malzahn and his staff did a nice job building off the momentum of the Tigers' unlikely run to the SEC championship and BCS title game, landing a class solidly in the top 10 and going toe-to-toe with Alabama in the home state, where it landed two players rated 5 stars by at least one service: Thomas and linebacker Tre Williams.

Outlook: OK, you didn't really expect Ole Miss to pull off another Robert Nkemdiche-Laquon Tradwell-Laremy Tunsil trifecta again this year, did you? The reality is, landing the nation's top player at three positions isn't going to happen every year in Oxford but consistently landing classes like this will keep the Rebels solid for a long time.

Getting a signing day flip from ex-Mississippi State commit Tee Golden was a feather in the Rebels' cap on Wednesday. Winning over 4-star defensive tackle Garrald McDowell out of Louisiana -- McDowell had an LSU offer -- and getting in-state prospects Taylor, Markell Peck (WR) and C.J. Hampton (S) to stay home were huge wins and will keep the Rebels with a core of players who can play anywhere in the SEC.

Outlook: It's never easy to attract talent in a state that isn't as full of high school studs as others in the SEC footprint, but Arkansas got a nice flip from South Florida athlete Jo Jo Robinson (who was a Florida State commit) on signing day, giving the Razorbacks three players on the ESPN 150, led by Jackson, the top prospect out of Arkansas this year.

The Razorbacks landed the state's top player, Jackson. There aren't many Jacksons in Arkansas, so Bret Bielema's staff scoured eight other states for 19 of its 24 recruits.

Outlook: If the Bulldogs weren't in such a competitive division in a competitive conference, this class wouldn't seem half bad with a couple of in-state, top 150 players (Graham and WR Jesse Jackson at No. 131) anchoring a group of four players rated as four stars in various services.

But this is not only the SEC, but the SEC West, where LSU and Alabama have the top two classes and four of the seven teams have top-10 classes. Most importantly, the Bulldogs were behind Ole Miss in the Magnolia State. Still, it's not a bad class as MSU landed solid players in a lot of need areas.

Outlook:
Tennessee's pure numbers -- the Vols' class is the biggest in the SEC
by four players and the biggest in the country -- makes it one of the best, and certainly deepest,
classes in the nation.

But it wasn't just bodies. The Vols had 11 players in the ESPN 300, a much-needed talent infusion for a program that has struggled in recent years. Malone is the headlinerand safety Todd Berry and running back Jalen Hurd are Top 100 players who form a pretty solid nucleus.

Did Tennessee meet every need? When you're a 5-win team, you have a lot of needs. Certainly, the numbers are there to fill them.

Outlook: Florida's miserable season caused it to lose some key members of the class, but the Gators built steam and finished strong down the stretch.

The Gators' offense, which not long ago seemed too toxic for offensive prospects to want to be a part of, picked up a couple of nice signing day flips from Florida State in quarterback Treon Harris and wide receiver C.J. Worton. That's huge for a program that had to fire its offensive coordinator after last season.

Defensive prospects seemed to remember that the UF defense was still elite last year and lined up to take part. Tabor led a defensive class that also included 4-star defensive linemen Gerald Willis, Thomas Holley, Justus Reed and Khairi Clark and 4-star defensive backs Quincy Wilson and Duke Johnson.

This class has star power, it bolsters its weak offense and it adds to the defense. It's the best class in the East and not just because a body count.

Its 21 new recruits were highlighted by a great pair of running backs -- Sony Michel and Nick Chubb are two of the best in the 2014 class -- and a great pair of signing day pickups in Carter and 4-star receiver Isaiah McKenzie.

Surely, Bulldogs fans can think of a few in-state players that got away who could have filled out this class, but give Mark Richt and his staff credit for keeping Carter at home. Still, Georgia could have used more, particularly on the offensive line.

Outlook: The Gamecocks were actually headed for a mediocre class before the Old Ball Coach pulled out some signing day magic, landing Lammons and Wesley Green, two ESPN 300 picks at cornerback, getting defensive end Dexter Wideman away from Florida State, and getting defensive end Blake McCain to flip from his Nebraska commitment.

Those are four huge signing day catches that gave the Gamecocks outstanding hauls on the defensive front and the secondary. Without them, this is a rather ordinary class. With them, the Gamecocks held their spot among the elite programs.

Outlook: It's the year Kentucky stared down Alabama in recruiting. Landing 4-star defensive tackle Matt Elam -- who chose the home-state Wildcats over Alabama -- was the big headliner to a banner year for Mark Stoops and UK, which outperformed its usual place as the "basketball school" for the SEC. The Wildcats finished with a top 20 class, got their quarterback of the future in Drew Barker, and -- between Ware and Elam -- the Wildcats got the foundation of a defensive front that can hold its own with SEC elites.

Here's the catch: Even with all the success Kentucky had to get a top 20 class, it's still only the 10th-best class in the SEC. But forget that moment of pessimism. Kentucky has star power on its defensive line and its offensive skill positions, where receiver Thaddeus Snoddgrass and running back Stanley Williams, along with Barker, give UK a trio of offensive stars to build around.

Outlook: Florida State cashed in on its national championship to build a No. 3-ranked class. Auburn built off its SEC championship to get a Top 10 Class. Missouri won the SEC East but wasn't able to transition that to a star-studded recruiting class. Nothing has come easy for Missouri. Even its best recruit, Bauer, decommitted from his home-state Tigers to bolt for Ole Miss, only to come back. The Tigers had to work for it.

Bauer was one of four 4-star picks for Mizzou, which may have pieces to add to what could be an explosive offense around young quarterback Maty Mauk. Two of the other stud prospects are 4-star receivers DeSean Blair and Lawrence Lee, giving Mauk options to throw to. That's a good foundation for an offensive class in what is otherwise a group filled with 3-star prospects.

Outlook: Derek Mason is the only new coach in the SEC and it showed in the class. Vandy lost some commitments from the James Franklin class, leaving it with just seven shortly after Franklin left for Penn State.

But Mason deserves credit for pulling things back together a bit. The Commodores got back to 21 players and the best player in the class, Lealao, joined the class on signing day. Running back Dallas Rivers and defensive back Emmanuel Smith are the only other 4-star players in the makeshift class.

Give Mason credit for pulling things together late, but a cobbled-together class in a year where the SEC's recruiting aces are flexing their muscles will make you stick out for the wrong reasons.